The Federal government has alerted Nigerians to the plan by unscrupulous smugglers to flood Nigerian markets with harmful frozen fish through the land borders, the Punch is reporting.
Nigeria relies heavily on imported frozen fish to meet demands at home.
Due to the forex crisis that has recently hit the country causing a slump in the value of the naira, the cost of frozen fish has skyrocketed.
The government stated that the smugglers bring in all sorts of frozen fish through the country’s land borders.
The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said anyone caught importing contaminated fish into the country risked a five-year jail term or a fine of $250,000, or both.
The Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that those involved in the act were sabotaging the efforts of government despite the extant fish importation policy and prohibition of frozen farmed fish importation into the country.
Lokpobiri, said on Thursday that the circulation of unhealthy fish and fishery products in Nigerian markets had resulted in grave health implications such as kidney disease and cancer.
He said, “It has become necessary for the Federal Government through the FMARD to address the Nigerian public on the sale of smuggled unhealthy frozen fish, especially farmed tilapia, in Nigeria.
These smuggled frozen fish are very harmful to the health of Nigerians.
“The ministry is using this medium to warn all those involved, colluding, aiding and abetting these nefarious activities to stop or face the full wrath of the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Importation of fish without licence attracts five-year imprisonment or a fine of $250,000, or both, in addition to forfeiture and destruction of the vessel and its products.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has put in place measures to arrest, detain and prosecute offenders as provided in the Sea Fisheries Act Cap S4 laws of the Federation 2004. Such persons will be dealt with as criminals and economic saboteurs, ” he added.
He said to stop the importation of harmful fish into the country, the government had been collaborating with countries in the Gulf of Guinea , Nigeria Customs Service, maritime police, Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Agriculture Quarantine Service.
Meanwhile, the National President, Association of Nigeria Seafood, Lamina Rasheed, said it is sad that licensed importers were made to pay 14 per cent of their total cargo to the Federal Government while smugglers paid nothing.
A situation which he claimed has made smuggling of frozen fish more lucrative .
